Anybody
here
seen my
old friend Frank?
Can you
tell me where he’s gone?
He
inspired a lotta people,
But it
seems good leaders, they don’t stay…
I just
looked around CSU
and
he’s gone.
Anybody
here,
seen my
old friend Thomas?
Can you
tell me where he’s gone?
He
inspired a lotta people,
But it
seems good leaders, they’re made to leave…
I just
looked around CSU
and
he’s gone…
In 21 years at CSU there have been
three times when I have thought we finally netted someone in the upper
administration with the potential to undertake the leadership
that CSU has needed to move it from its oft-lamented status as the “diamond in
the rough.” These three happen to be men and I would add, men of substance, who
exuded intelligence, vision, and capability. I am talking about Frank Pogue,
Thomas Calhoun and the third one I met last week, Paul Vallas.
CSU is not lacking in a faculty
committed to moving CSU towards all it could be. But it has been badly lacking
in leadership from the top for many years. Leadership, true leadership, does
not issue mandates from the 3rd floor of the Cook Building such as
we endured with the presidency of Wayne Watson. A contentious, venal political
hire from the start, he inspired no wide support among the faculty. Our so-called overseers, the state governor,
Board of Trustees, and the Higher Learning Commission permitted him to run CSU
like a political ward and become the poster-child of an Illinois patronage pit.
We remain saddled with the remnants of Watson’s pillaging and plundering, an
execrable and disgraced provost and others whose shelf-life on this campus is
well past their “sell by” date.
After Governor Quinn’s interference to
save Watson and then the Calhoun debacle last year, I became convinced that the
state’s ultimate intention for CSU was that it not be anything more than a
southside politically-dominated community college that masquerades as a
university. We would continue to be that "diamond in the rough" and any achievement
a department or individual faculty made would be in spite of, not because of,
its leadership. It is hard to keep one’s spirits up in the situation that
persists at CSU. And there has been no Truth and Reconciliation moment over the
dirty job the provost and the bogus Management Action Committee did in firing
our faculty colleagues. Who has the will to do anything for which a no-confidence
president or provost might take credit?
Oh, right. Do it for the students.
Yes, “Students First” all the way at
CSU. The words ring hollow when it comes out of the cynical mouths of
administrators who have proven that their own interests and egos precede
anything done for students. What would you say to the student in my class this
semester who was so badly advised at the “advising center” that she is
taking four classes here that she had already taken and passed at a community
college? When she meekly protested to the adviser she was told that since the
A.A. degree had not posted to the transcript, she had to take a freshman course
load. They had the transcripts that clearly showed she had taken and passed the
classes. By the time she spoke to her department chair, it was past the
deadline to add/drop. Her chair told her the courses would count as
electives. If it were me, or my child, I
would have raised holy hell with the department and the Academic Affairs Office and
possibly dropped out of the university rather than pay for four classes I did
not need. But our students do not all have the kind of confidence needed to
stand up to posturing authoritative administrators.
Is this what we call “students
first?” Students powerless? What could any one of us as faculty do for this
student? I was incensed on her behalf yet powerless myself to offer her
anything beyond my sympathy and encouragement to be vigilant with the courses
she needs. Faculty have protested the failures of the provost’s advising
center. We have discussed this formally in the Faculty Senate and made our
concerns known. Our concerns continue to be ignored or grudgingly addressed even though our concerns are not disconnected from those of our students. Have we gotten too used to people not knowing how to run a university?
At the monthly Faculty Senate
meeting last week I heard CSU’s CAO, Paul Vallas, speak for the first time. He
presented a tour de force of ideas,
possibilities, connections and a way forward such as I have not heard in a long
time here. I left the meeting thinking:
1.
this is leadership I could follow,
like Pogue, like Calhoun—it may not be completely possible to do it all as
Vallas outlines, but sign me up—I will work hard for this kind of university.
Vallas is the type of person with whom I want to work with whom I would work
hard. I think he would listen and engage my ideas and let me share in the
effort.
2.
is this CSU’s last chance? No one
person will “save” CSU. But we blew it with the loss of Calhoun last year. How
many chances do we have left?
To my knowledge there is no
presidential search under way beyond the Trustees talking about it. CSU needs leadership that
is able to inspire faculty to participate in an agenda that is positive for the
university. It needs leadership that is respected, trustworthy, and genuine. We
had that in Frank Pogue. We had that in Thomas Calhoun. Paul Vallas spoke of
utilizing CSU’s "faculty talent" and the faculty talent that was lost in the
firings during the Calhoun coup d’état
last year.
There is a bad habit here at CSU of undermining or getting rid of or ruining leaders who truly show some mettle.
Governor Quinn at the urging of Watson pals dismissed the Board of Trustees led
by Gary Rozier who finally stood up to Wayne Watson’s fiscal debaucheries. The
left-over cronies of Watson, his protégé, Angela Henderson, and other members
of that cabal undermined the presidency of Thomas Calhoun before it was a
month old and forced him out of office before nine months had passed. At the
Senate meeting Paul Vallas alluded to actions already in play to undermine his
efforts. HLC spent way too much time focused on Vallas and his appointment and
not enough on the rotten core that still holds power. Why was that I wonder?
We have a person of substance and
ideas willing to work with us to renew CSU. Paul Vallas has a one-year contract.
He will not be a miracle-worker. Are we going to see him undermined or cut off
at the knees like Calhoun? This is not the time to opt for complacency. If we
blithely think that because the state passed a budget that will keep us afloat for
maybe two years (after the mid-term elections), we are mistaken. CSU cannot limp
along forever as the diamond in the rough and our quasi-HBCU status will carry
us only so far. I for one do not want to see Paul Vallas tread the path off
this campus that we saw Frank Pogue and Thomas Calhoun take.
Apologies to Richard Holler and Dion
for the clumsy adaptation of their lyrics.
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